GUWAHATI, May 2 ?The Assam Agricultural University and colleges under the varisty have been closed down for an indefinite period from 6 pm today followeing vandalism by a group of students. The varsity authorities also asked the students to vacate their hostels immediately in order to maintain peace in the campus. A university release said that the students forcefully entered the chamber of the Vice-Chanchellar (VC) about 10.30 am today, snapped all telephone connections and started shouting slogans demanding resignation of the VC and relieving Dr P C Deka from the post of Dean. To...

Imphal, May 02: A determined effort is underway inside the Congress Party to bolt the door upon the possible entry of Lok Sabha MP Th Chaoba into the party. Apparently agitated over the possible return of Chaoba, disgruntled party workers have launched a swift signature campaign to ruin his homecoming. The detractors are hopeful that considering his past records of promoting dissidence he will not be allowed another stint in the party. Chaoba is reportedly lobbying with the Congress high command including party chief, Sonia Gandhi and Mani Shankar Aiyer for his comeback along with some...

Imphal, May 02: The directorate of education (s) has practically reduced aged Sanskrit pundits to beggars in paying their yearly monetary honour granted by the Union ministry of human resources (department of education). It is also learnt that scholarships for the financial year 2001-2002 has not been distributed to the pundits till date. Yet the fund was released in time by the Union ministry. The Union ministry, under the Central plan scheme, released financial assistance every year to local eminent Sanskrit pundits in indigent manners. The fund was released through Hindi and Sanskrit...

SHILLONG, May 1 ? Matrilineal Meghalaya has all along been showing the predominance of women in various economic activities besides their occupying a position of pride in the family and society. And now the Census of India-paper 3 released here yesterday has established that there are more female cultivators in the State than males. The Paper 3 revealed that female cultivators comprise 51.88 per cent of the total cultivators in the State compared to 44.89 per cent males. Though agriculture is the main economic activity in Meghalaya, only 47.80 per cent of the workers are cultivators. However...

TEZPUR, May 1 ? Coinciding with the centenary celebration of the cultural icon Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, the Sonitpur district administration has decided to renovate ?Poki?, the ancestral home of Rupkonwar and popularly known as Jyoti Bharati on the north bank of the river Brahmaputra through the MP fund, said Sri Sanjoy Lohiya, Deputy Commissioner Sonitpur. Talking to this correspondent, Sri Lohiya said that the State PWD deportment has been entrusted to submit an estimate and added that Rs 2 lakh has been sanctioned as an initial grant for renovation. Besides that a new committee with...